Walkers, bikers and rowers will take to their courses next weekend as part of the 31st annual Prouty.

The event raises money for Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Over three decades, the fundraiser has brought in nearly $14 million for the hospital.

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Every year, Deborah Nelson bikes the Prouty Ultimate, a two-day bike event. Friday, bikers go from Manchester, N.H., to Hanover. Saturday, they join the walkers and rowers in the Upper Valley.

There are various routes and lengths for walkers for the Saturday events, some as short as 3 kilometers. Rowers take the Connecticut River.

“I have lots of angels and memories on my shoulders when I ride,” Nelson said. She’s raised more than $100,000 for Norris Cotton, she said.

When riding, she said, “I think of the people who are still alive because of cancer research. I think about the hope that I have that there will be better diagnoses for people who are diagnosed in the future.”

“Cancer has become a disease that touches so many people,” said Jean Brown, the executive director for the Friends of the Norris Cotton Center. The group organizers the Prouty every year.

“It's also a way to honor patients and survivors,” she said.

The Prouty was started by four nurses at the hospital in 1982 in honor of their patient Audrey Prouty. The bike ride raised $4,000 for the hospital.

Organizers said they hoped to bring in $2.5 million this year.

Whether on the course, or sharing stories about surviving the disease, participants, and cancer survivors, are thankful.

“I do it mostly because I'm hoping that shortly we'll make more advances in research and be able to take on this disease in a more powerful way,” said Susan Boyle.

“I like to think back on what I went through and how much that has changed, very much because of the Prouty,” said Rebecca Gray.